In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Rockfish CEO Michael Schade confirmed that EVERSPACE 2 will not be going the Epic Store exclusive route.

As a reminder, Rockfish already confirmed Linux support to GamingOnLinux on Twitter. Naturally though, a worry amongst Linux gamers has been if they decided to go with Epic Games on their store which currently doesn't support Linux. Thankfully, that's not going to happen.

In the interview, they said they did have some conversations with Epic about EVERSPACE 2 but they "never seriously considered pursuing exclusivity". That's not all though, according to Schade, Steam is the best platform for an indie developer:

Without Epic, Rockfish and Everspace wouldn't exist, but it's the same with Steam. Without Steam, we wouldn't exist... In our case, it doesn't make sense. We need Early Access, the full feature set, the forums, the constant updating, the whole infrastructure. Valve has the best platform, by far, to roll out a game as an independent developer. It's by far the best tools and the best communities. This is exactly what we need.

That's interesting to read but they did also note that the exclusive deals can be "both valuable and vital" to smaller developers. An obvious point though, something I've said before. Faced with the thousands of games releasing per year on Steam and taking a deal as a small team that guarantees some income when you need it, you're likely going to take it. In this case, sticking to their plan has worked well for Rockfish since Valve promoted EVERSPACE 2 and some other titles on Steam, enabling them to pull in 20K wishlists.

EVERSPACE 2 is going to Kickstarter on October 2nd, with Early Access next year and a full release sometime in 2021. You can also wishlist and follow it on Steam.

Note: If you do wishlist games on Steam, to make them actually show up as a Linux wishlist you need to tick Linux as your sole platform in your Steam Preferences (at the bottom).

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I'm absolutely no expert, and with my non-expert view, i'd think itchio is better for indie to launch or prelaunch, because less cut. Then when you get some traction from the first players (free advertisment from youtube, forum, twitter etc), and you have fixed the first annoying bugs or balance etc, you can better second launch on Steam and avoid the "Negativers", or part of them.

TcheyI'm absolutely no expert, and with my non-expert view, i'd think itchio is better for indie to launch or prelaunch, because less cut. Then when you get some traction from the first players (free advertisment from youtube, forum, twitter etc), and you have fixed the first annoying bugs or balance etc, you can better second launch on Steam and avoid the "Negativers", or part of them.

That's kinda funny, as they said already with the announcement of Everspace 2 they are going to have Early Access on Steam, but People went like: yeah, sure, and you're still going to be an Epic exclusive.

Well, I can't blame those people, we've been disappointed more than once with promises of Linux support and Steam releases, and then the Game went Epic exclusive -.-

But Rockfish Games wants to build up trust in indie developers, publishers and studios again, they really have the intention to keep their promises. As they have proven already in the past. I mean, no one knows what the future brings... so if they are offered several 10 millions of dollars... who knows, everyone has their price.

From how I got to know RFG and especially Michael Schade, they are keen to try new things (Everspace classic is literally available everywhere!*), but they also know who their fans are and they don't want to lose them.

* Everspace 1 is now called Everspace classic, and the game is available on PC (Linux, Mac, Windows), consoles (Nintendo Switch, PS4, XBox One), each store (at release time: Steam, GOG, Humble), for every input device (Keyboard/MoveMaster + Mouse, Controller, HOTAS) and even for VR!

Is anyone using a MS Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro 2?
Does it (still) work under Linux?

I have the first version (gameport), unfortunately the ff doesn't work but I read in many places that it should (I read the driver and the support seems to be implemented, I probably did something wrong). Either case, even without ff is a terrific joystick.

Is anyone using a MS Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro 2?
Does it (still) work under Linux?

I have the first version (gameport), unfortunately the ff doesn't work but I read in many places that it should (I read the driver and the support seems to be implemented, I probably did something wrong). Either case, even without ff is a terrific joystick.

Sure, without FF a FF joystick is not even stabilized.

Does anybody knows if Linux has a standardized FF API, or do games need to explicitly support the model?
Also, let's assume driver support is working, will I be able to use it with Wine and old Windows games that had FF support?

Yeah, I should probably ask that in the forum, but with Everspace chances are higher that it's visible to people that have experience with it - I guess.

subDoes anybody knows if Linux has a standardized FF API, or do games need to explicitly support the model?

The kernel has a standard FF implementation which can be used through evdev (it's pretty much a copy of the Windows api.). Very few drivers have it implemented and most are incomplete. As far as I know, the only non-Logitech FF implementation is the iforce joystick driver. But it is possible that it only applies to USB.

If they hold up to their word then i am more than happy to support them by buying it.
I despise Epic and the nonsense exclusive deal mentality.
It makes no sense on consoles and it makes even less sense on PC.

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